Degenerate Melbourne gamblers: Adam Crowe, Brian Wilson, Jake Spinella, Connie Paglianiti
A scoundrel who rorted an elderly man to bankroll a $20m betting spree is one of Melbourne’s worst gambling junkies. See the full list.
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They say don’t bet on what can’t you afford to lose but these degenerate gamblers who swindled, stole and conned millions to fund their punting plunges paid no attention to that advice.
A dodgy businessman blew more $3 million of stolen cash through his Ladbrokes account, a full scoundrel duped an elderly retiree to fund a $20 million splurge and a disgraced socialite who hung with A-listers burned $1.5 million at Crown Casino all make the list.
See which other Melbourne degenerates couldn’t keep their greedy paws out of the honey jar to feed their betting needs.
DEGENERATE FRAUDSTER GAMBLED LARGE
Degenerate gambling junkie Adam Crowe stole more than $1.5 million from two employers to bet large at the Casino, Sportsbet and Bet365.
Crowe fronted the County Court last April after pleading guilty to multiple fraud offences and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Crowe rorted $711,968 from former employer Melbourne River Cruises via 163 transactions between September 2014 and February 2017.
The fraudster pleaded guilty to that offending at a County Court plea hearing heard in October 2020.
Crowe told the court he ceased gambling once his offending was discovered, deleted his betting apps and claimed to have joined Gamblers Anonymous sessions.
Crowe’s submissions may have resulted in a reduced sentence.
However, it emerged Crowe never ceased gambling and actually placed a bet on the day of his plea hearing.
The shock revelation came after the Herald Sun published a story covering Crowe’s Melbourne River Cruises fraud, the court was told.
Crowe’s most recent employer onQ Plumbing was shocked to learn of their former bookkeeper’s skulduggery via the media.
The court heard Crowe quit onQ just days before his plea hearing, telling the company he had a “personal family issue” and had to “leave to go interstate”.
onQ General Manager Gerard Misquitta did some digging and found “discrepancies” with the Craigieburn company’s accounting records.
Crowe funnelled $791,586 from onQ’s coffers to his personal bank accounts between December 2017 and September 2020.
Analysis of Crowe’s bank accounts revealed the degenerate transferred $399,654 to Bet365 and Sportsbet between October 2017 and October 2020.
Crowe also withdrew $122,440 cash.
The court was told, during the 2020 plea hearing, Crowe gambled most of his stolen Melbourne River Cruise cash at Crown, at the TAB and various other betting apps.
Crowe bet during work then wandered to the Casino after his shift.
Crowe, a father of five, also picked up a dangerous cocaine habit after his marriage hit the skids.
Crowe will be sentenced at a later date.
METH HEAD THIEF’S CROWN CASINO SPREE
Meth head former pokies manager Jack Woolley stole more than $300,000 which he mostly blew on gambling at Crown Casino.
Woolley was sentenced in the County Court in May 2021 to a minimum 14-month jail term after pleading guilty to a rolled-up charge of theft.
Woolley was the Waterloo Cup Hotel venue manager when he rorted $381,880 via 80 bogus transactions between July 2016 and March 2017.
The thieving degenerate helped himself to the Moonee Ponds’ hotel pokie machine takings — including pocketing $14,000 during a single rort.
Woolley masked his skulduggery by manipulating eftpos and transaction data, the court was told.
However, his thievery ended abruptly after senior finance staff for the venue’s owners, Supreme Hotel Group, discovered records had been manipulated and cash was missing.
Woolley later admitted his theft after police seized evidence.
Woolley told investigators he was “pretty much taking takings from the day” and would “recoup” the stolen funds by manipulating computer information.
The thief said he would “skim” money and sometimes stole cash bags “depending on whether he needed coin to buy more gear”.
Woolley estimated he stole “393” but wasn’t certain because he was “cooked off his head”.
Woolley, who admitted having a “pretty bad” ice addiction, said he spent the funds on a “bit of gambling” but the cash went “predominantly on the gear”.
Woolley also told police he “put a fair bit of cash through Crown” and he was using a $1000 ‘ball’ of meth a day.
Woolley was jailed for a maximum two years and three months.
“REPREHENSIBLE” FRAUDSTER’S $20 MILLION PUNTING SPREE
Scoundrel Brian Wilson stole almost $2 million from an elderly retiree to fund a degenerate gambling splurge.
Wilson was sentenced in the County Court in November to a minimum three-year jail term after pleading guilty to multiple rolled-up financial advantage by deception charges.
Wilson cosied up to his victim after noticing the 82-year-old had put his $1.6m family home on the market.
The fraudster buddied up to the retiree by helping him with chores and other tasks including helping the victim move into a retirement village.
The victim, who found Wilson “very helpful and friendly”, told the fraudster how much he sold his home for.
Wilson then concocted a series of bogus business deals he had cooking but wanted his victim’s cash for “financial backing”.
The court heard Wilson told his victim he had lucrative cleaning contracts with Brimbank Council, Metricon Homes and a Tafe.
Wilson also spewed lies about other bogus ventures including cleaning businesses in Ballarat and Geelong and shonky deals involving milk cleaning chemicals, waterjet cutting equipment and a car sale.
Wilson gleaned $1,915,000 from the victim between October 2018 and September 2019.
The court heard Wilson kept his victim on the dangle with false promises of shared profits and handed the victim multiple dodgy cheques which all bounced.
Wilson later became “aggressive” when the victim asked for just $18,000 back.
Wilson, who called the victim a “f**king asshole” and “piece of shit”, told the retiree to “stay away” and “not talk to him again”.
Wilson also told the victim he could go “into the bankruptcy list just like
everybody else”.
The victim reported Wilson to police who interviewed Wilson in November 2019.
Wilson denied the offending but admitted cash given to him was funnelled through his TAB, Sportsbet and BetEasy accounts.
Investigators analysed Wilson’s bank records which revealed the cash had been transferred the multiple betting agencies and Ladbrokes.
Police also obtained Wilson’s betting agency financial transaction records which revealed the crook deposited $2,286,911 into his Tab account with a betting turnover of
$10,807,000.
Wilson also plunged $483,091 into Sportsbet with a $6,993,878 turnover, $45,226 into BetEasy with a $440,314 turnover and sunk $13,650 into Ladbrokes.
Wilson, of Mount Martha, was jailed for a maximum five years and ordered to repay more than $1.5 million still outstanding.
LADBROKES SETTLES AFTER SCOUNDREL’S STOLEN CASH SPLURGE
Former company director Jaicome ‘Jake’ Spinella rorted more than $3 million which he dumped through his online gambling account in just seven months.
Spinella was sentenced in the County Court in June 2021 to a minimum two-year jail term after pleading guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception.
Spinella, a former co-director of Melbourne concreting business Bauen Concrete Pty Ltd, siphoned $3,131,718.82 of company dough into his Ladbrokes’ account between December 2016 and July 2017.
The degenerate gambler was solely responsible for Bauen finances when he used the company’s credit card to swindle the cash into his Ladbrokes’ account.
Spinella, of Maribyrnong, started off small with just two $220 payments, but his thieving quickly ballooned with the dud punter making 150 payments totalling $1,086,450 in June 2017 alone.
Spinella made a total of 569 payments between December 2016 and July 2017.
When Spinella was later interviewed by Australia Securities and Investment Commission officers he told them his first couple of payments to Ladbrokes on the company card were an accident, because it looked identical to his personal one.
But he admitted he then ‘lent’ himself $3.13 million.
He told the investigators his gambling had escalated as he tried to pay back what he’d already taken.
The court heard Bauen receivers sued Ladbrokes to recoup back losses after it was submitted the gambling giant encouraged Spinella to punt with VIP offers.
A confidential mediation settlement was reached this month but Ladbrokes did not consent for the details of the settlement to be released, the court was told.
The court heard Spinella’s dad introduced his son to gambling and the fraudster began placing bets when he was 13.
Spinella, a dad, was jailed for a maximum four years.
CONNIE THE CON QUEEN’S $1.5m CROWN RUN
Connie Paglianiti wanted it all — fame, Hollywood A-listers, riches — and she didn’t mind spending big to make it happen.
Paglianiti stole more than $6 million with almost a quarter of the cash going down at Crown Casino.
Paglianiti also spent huge sums flying in Oscar-winning actors Susan Sarandon and Sophia Loren to appear at her La Dolce Italia charity gala dinners.
She was desperate to save her crumbling Eventcepts business so she swindled $6,320,230 from Eastern Ocean, a homewares and gifts import firm run by a friend.
Paglianiti was its part-time bookkeeper when she made 100 dodgy transactions, masked as ATO payments, between February 2014 and September 2018.
The money went into her bank account and into her Carlton-based company’s account.
As her business losses grew, Paglianiti turned to gambling “four to five” nights a week at Crown, where she lost $1.5 million of the stolen cash.
Paglianiti, from Brunswick East, pleaded guilty at the County Court in November 2019 to nine counts of theft.
She was later jailed for a maximum four years, with a minimum two years and six months.
KFC MANAGER’S CROOKED HIGH-STAKES GAMBLING SPREE
Shonky KFC manager Gayan Amerasekera swindled almost $500,000 to fund an “extravagant” lifestyle of high stakes gambling, fine-dining restaurants, drugs and prostitutes.
Amerasekera was the area manager and bookkeeper for a company which operates KFC outlets at Knox City, Knox Ozone and Bayswater.
Amerasekera used his “full access” to the company’s accounts to transfer $484,147.58 into his own bank account.
The shonky accountant made 151 bogus transactions between January 2016 and November 2018.
He admitted the stolen cash was to fund a high stakes gambling addiction which landed him neck deep in the Crown Casino high-roller rooms.
Amerasekera gambled away big money daily.
Crown would comp him hotel rooms which Amerasekera used to do meth so he could “recharge for another tilt at the tables”.
He also splashed cash on prostitutes, alcohol and fine-dining restaurants including Nobu and Bistro Guillaume.
Amerasekera was sentenced in the County Court in November 2019 to a maximum three years’ prison with a non-parole period of 22 months.
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